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Fresh

The Tomatometer is 60% or higher.

Rotten

The Tomatometer is 59% or lower.

Certified Fresh

Movies and TV shows are Certified Fresh with a steady Tomatometer of 75% or higher after a set amount of reviews (80 for wide-release movies, 40 for limited-release movies, 20 for TV shows), including 5 reviews from Top Critics.

Dogville is rich with evil interesting characters, but immaterial in the environment presented by Lars von Trier with little to look at other than the characters which is what he wants. It is a long and experimental film which has a lot of room for interpretation and this can either be a fascinating film or a disgusting bore. Although the film is a hard interpretation of humanity what is truly frighting is that we understand where von Trier is coming from and that we might even slightly empathize with his perspective.

Dogville might not be my personal favorite, but I wouldn't argue with anyone who said it it's the best movie ever made. It combined everything I love about the theater with everything great about independent films and foreign films. I have forgotten most of the movies I've watched over the past 17 years but I still remember the first time I watched Dogville and the second time I watched it, with my parents, who were scandalized, but of course very enthralled with the allegorical subject matter. It's very long and minimalist but it's very much anti-imperialist America, which is why I liked it. It's classified as an international film since Lars is Danish, the production companies are multiple countries, and the cast is British / American. The movie got pretty savage reviews by the US media, mostly decrying the fact that it was vitriolic, anti-American and bitter. That was one of my coming-of-age moments when I realized most critics don't know what they're talking about. Since when is passion in art a bad thing?

Few films, outside of the torture porn genre, will fill you with as much righteous fury as Dogville. The film is an exceptional allegory for mankind's gross sins against his own people. As much as we would all like to believe that the film is about man's suffering and the injustice of mob mentality, there is one important point we're all missing. This is about your country! Dogville is the harshest criticism of American values I've ever seen and that is strictly because of its allegorical simplicity and G-rated content. This ambiance makes Lars Von Trier's vitriolic commentary seem like a Disney cartoon on crack. Nicole Kidman's performance is brilliantly naive and yet subtle enough to suggest she doesn't know what the movie's about. (She does...she's an Aussie) The many bizarre cameos by American actors just amaze me. (Sonny Corleone, what were you thinking?) Dogville is a triumph of manic depressive, prejudicial rage.

What I Learned: Definitely one of the movies that made me lose faith in humanity. Realizing that your own country is capable of great evil, and that people you trusted are fully capable of exploiting your weakness and your forgiveness, is frightening. I think Dogville is a movie that disillusions you and brings you to a new level of consciousness. Like Kubrick, another influence of mine, I think Lars' voice-his distrust of humanity-is a strong voice in my head I have yet to shake.

Von Trier's tedious torture of the heroine would be thought provoking if it actually served a broader artistic narrative or if the film at least felt like it was going some where. Since it doesn't, Von Trier asks us to forgive his malicious cynisism so that we may simply gawk at his novel approach. Von Trier's contempt for his characters could only be matched by his pretentious contempt for his audience.

A must-see if you're interested in drama or film. Strangely prophetic, given the choice of the next President of the USA and the increasing exposure of the US proclivities for enslavement, rape and mass murder, both domestically and abroad. Admittedly, nowadays polluting drinking water takes the place of starving a dog, drones are much more effective than machine-guns and economic slavery is more widespread than chaining people to a deadweight.

Brilliantly original. Relied on captivating small town screenplay. The menacing feel and philosophical undercurrent mark this out as one of the better films of the decade. A memorable performance from Kidman caps off a bit of a modern classic.